Silly question – Why do you need a dedicated headphone amp?
Is it better than the standard outlet on my seperates amplifier?
Or is this just audiophilia?

Very generally speaking the headphone socket on an integrated amp will be ok, but won’t have had a huge amount of thought or expense thrown at it. Some of the very high end amps have great headphone amps, but usually not so much.

A separate headphone amp can make quite a big difference, especially if you have a pair of difficult to drive headphones or some such as the one on the integrated amp will be designed generally for easy to drive headphones.

Where they can help a lot if you re really into your music is coupled with an iPod, iPhone, media player etc. The Apple stuff and most other recent smartphones have the ability to send a line-out signal from the dock port which you an run through a headphone amp and significantly improve the sound quality over the headphone socket. I use a little Fiio E7 with my iPhone and the change is quite appreciable – a much more open sound space and lots more detail. The headphone socket sounds really compressed if you go back to it now.

Working with vehicles with the latest ZF 8-speed and it’s great. Very very smooth changes and shift strategies are sensible. 8 gears is great as it will always sit happily no matter the engine speed.

I’d say go and try one, but from my perspective definitely a good choice.

JLR are actually an Indian company

Well, not really. JLR are a British company owned and financed by an Indian company – might be semantics but there is a difference (as in all the engineering and production is done in Britain by British engineers and all day to day running, marketing etc is as well – just the very very very very very top dogs who are from Tata)

For a non-engineer (not meant to sound condescending, and if you are One I apologise!), the Heisler book would be great – I found it great at uni but its written describing the technology behind engines rather than the deepest physics and thermo.

For more in depth, the Stone book someone mentioned is good, although my personal go to was (and still is) Heywood. It’s quite amusing (in a geeky way…) that you’ll get engineers who like one or the other – usually in the same way as either Sharp or Casio calculators…..

I’ve not seen the new Ricardo one in person yet, but Sir Harry’s ‘Te High Speed Internal Combustion Engine” is a fascinating read – a textbook written like prose, well worth a read.

The 1.6 is turbocharged and will be plenty in a Mondeo (~160hp/240Nm I believe), significantly more ‘gutsy’ than our current 1.8 – you will notice quite a big difference. From what you have said above, I’d say the 1.6 would be ideal.

What angeldust said.

Again, like Berghaus, TNF top-end kit is properly good. They’ve come out with some UK specific jackets (Point Five and another one I can’t think of) recently which have had great reviews. Funny thing is that if you head over to Sweden, you see people wearing Haglofs kit like you do TNF over here so you can’t really judge a brand by who wears it!

North Face all got a bit high street for a while but back on track now.

Same with Berghaus as well. They went very dog walker/chavvy at one point producing baggy not well thought out kit. That is still there in some forms sadly, but the top end Xtrem kit is absolutely bloomin brilliant! Am very much toying with buying a Kanchenjunga to replace my current mountain jacket, and have tried on a Velum and the fit was just as good if not better than the ‘big’ names (Rab, ME, Haglofs, etc).

Some might see it as cynical marketing, but the sponsorship of Leo Houlding etc does seem to have bought some focus to them. Leading the way on things like waterproof(ish) down jackets and other technologies as well. Sorted!

Block heater’s there to protect the engine and make it possible to start it, not for the convenience of the occupants. My point above was more about electric space heating for the car.

A lot of ‘cold market’ cars will also have a fuel fired heater to get the coolant up to temp quicker. Block heater would be used for starts as you sya, but the fuel fired heater will get the coolant (and so the heater matrix temp) up quicker.

Speed do you work for a big oem, there are vast differences which I am happy to talk about?

Sui, I work for a consultancy rather than an OEM, but working with them.

Definitely interested to hear anything you know of (do you work in the industry?). I would agree there is a difference between some fuels from supermarkets and the big fuel vendors, but what I was (badly..) trying to say was that in general it won’t make a massive difference to your average man on the street. As I said, we use Carcal (and others) reference fuel for any critical testing (emissions, knock control, fuel adaption calibration etc), but generally fuel from ‘wherever is closest’ is used for day to day testing on road/track and there is not enough of a difference to effect results so I’d be fairly certain that an average driver wouldn’t notice.

So yes there is a difference. No it isn’t/shouldn’t be a problem. My thoughts anyway! But as said, genuinely interested to hear if you think differently!

We use ‘Asda Reference’ fuel for any non-critical testing in our development cars (and critical tests use non-pump reference fuel) and it doesn’t make any appreciable difference. A mix of V-power and other high octane fuels is used to make sure it all goes nicely on higher octane but 90% of the time it’s standard Tesco/Asda unleaded or Diesel.

According to Wikipedia, saline solution has 9g ‘salt’ per kg water. Seawater has 35g per kg. which is quite a big difference! So unfortunately I think whatever way you take it, it’s bad stuff!

As others have said, Saline is used as it closely mimics your bloods salt concentration so that you don’t lose anything through osmosis etc.

The DV6 isn’t any more fragile than Ny other diesel, it’s just there are SO many in circulation that you hear of more failures than you would – perpetuated by the fact they are used in Ford’s, Peugeots and Citroens and so are apparently crap by default…

We had one on a Testbed for a year running ridiculous levels of EGR for sustained periods of time and had no issues at all. Ditto with stressing it in any other way on Testbed or car. Not denying there are some issues with it, but it is still a very very good engine.

Butter only if in a pan. But milk instead if microwaved – that is what has usually worked best for me. I find that doing a larger batch gets better results as well as the mass of egg ‘soaks up’ the heat better and means you can avoid the 1 second ok, next second split and horrible thing that can happen with microwaving them.

As others have said, just quit when they are 95% solid and by the time they are served up you are on to a winner. Short bursts (30s, shortening as it gets more cooked) rather than sticking it on for a few minutes seems to help as well.

I believe the thinking is that the aircraft are all wrapped up in kit form – so if they have been properly covered and treated then there shouldn’t be much corrosion etc. hopefully anyway!

I’m afraid composition and light far far outweigh what camera you use

This absolutely.

BUT, if you are good at making the most of these, then a FF sensor will allow you to eek out even more. Greater depth of field control, cleaner images (especially low light), the ability to take ‘ambient light’ photos in near darkness.

As to the OP, probably a big old jump if this is your first DSLR. I’d say a cropped sensor body would probably be better until you know you like the control of a DSLR and can make the most of it. Then you can move up to an FF sensor. One way would be to buy a cropped body but invest in FF compatible lenses so that if you decide to move up to an FF body the lenses (generally the expensive bit) are already there. Something like a Canon 650D/Nikon D3200/Sony A37 would be ideal for a first leg up.

Just cracked open a bottle of Jura ‘Superstition’ – yum yum :)

Bridges are pretty good and a nice step up (Panasonic ones especially), but she might be better off going for a small ISC camera like a Panasonic G series or a Sony NEX. A Panasonic GF5 with the little 14-42X lens is tiny and great quality – probably one of the best size/quality ratio cameras on the market. Can be had for not much more than a bridge if you shop around as well.

And apparently made by PSA (Peugeot/Citroen) which alone is enough to warrant avoiding it.

Yeah that’s just rubbish, PSA diesels are generally regarded as some of the best in the business. The DV6 engine (the 1.6 tdci, hdi, or whatever) is a very highly developed engine and the current ‘C’ version is one of the best out there. Would be my choice for the Focus. That or the 1.0 ecoboost if you want petrol.

but on the spec’s for the paperwhite it list a experimental browser. do we know if this would cope with a forum type website?

The browser might be able to show it, but using it would be horrible. I would just completely ignore the fact it has a browser. If you want one unit to do anything other than read books then skip straight past a Kindle. Think of Kindles doing just one thing, but doing that one thing incredibly well. You’ll sacrifice some of the ‘niceness’ of reading with a tablet, but gain a huge amount more functionality. Depends where the main priority is.

Thanks speed12, but does that mean an iPad would be better?

The iPad is, arguably, the pick of the tablets if you want a tablet – nice UI, great selection of apps etc. the Fire is a bit of a weird e-Reader/tablet mix as it is an Android tablet in form, but the UI Amazon have put on it pushes it as an e-reader. A better alternative for similar money is the Google Nexus 7 (or 10 for an iPad sized one).

But as far as pure reading goes, no backlit LCD screen can compete with an e-ink for non-eye-tiredness. The new Paperwhite screens get rid of the ‘need a light to read by’ bit of the older Kindles as well, but at the same time won’t melt your retinas like a tablet would…

My thoughts anyway! (Kindle and iPad owner)

The Fire is a bit of a different beast as it’s a tablet rather than a pure e-reader. If she wants it just to read, then a Paperwhite will be infinitely better as the backlight on the HD will get very fatiguing when reading at night (and blue light before bed means more restless nights apparently). However, if she also wants to use it as a tablet (interweb, apps etc) then the Fire is the way forward.

Outdoor Designs Perma’s. eVent. Tough as you like. Within budget. Done.

I’ve got a TG-610 which does the job nicely. Image quality isn’t amazing (although the TG-1 is significantly better I believe), but considering the alternative is no photo at all when it’s underwater/raining/hanging off the side of a mountain, etc it’s pretty good (and in good light, is pretty good anyway!). Great to take literally anywhere with you and pretty indestructible (mine fell down a significant proportion of Tryfan and survived with just a few scratches).

(doesn’t mean most cars are…but it is certainly possible!)

hhhmmmm , engine spins faster = more bangs per second. sceptical man is sceptical . i think this not to be possible ( real speed not indicated on your speedos)

Drag increases with speed , hmmmmm

and i use the motorway every day thanksssss .

In an ideal world then yes, as the engine spins faster it would require more fuel to keep it spinning. But this isn’t an ideal world and the fuelling curve as the engine speed increases is not linear by any stretch of the imagination. There is a band in pretty much any engine where the fuelling will decrease (or at least stay level) as the speed rises, before increasing again. This depends on the combustion design, bearing and general friction/lubrication design as well as the efficiency of the intake system and…well…a lot of things!

Drag does increase with speed (by its square in fact), but depending on the vehicle aero and the engine efficiency, tyre rolling resistance etc, it is very definitely possible to be more economical at 80mph than at 60mph.

Even then, there does seem to be this myth that modern cars need to have parts replaced as standard after a year or two which is quite frankly rubbish. OK, if one of the more complex system goes then it goes quite badly, but on the other hand if it doesn’t go then there is no reason why it would within the reasonable lifetime of the part/vehicle. I’ve seen test engines running in utterly horrific test sequences (full load from cold, cold flash soaks, high load low revs, etc) for the equivalent of about 500k and still working fine on original components!

this is sold on to the end user as a benefit, but in reality isn’t really!

Well, it is still a benefit (engine off = no fuel being used = fuel saving), but your right it is tailored a bit to the emissions cycle. Although having said that, the idle periods in the NEDC or any other cycle are probably the only bits that directly imitate something that happens in real driving so any benefits you see on an emissions test in the idle sections will certainly be seen in real life as well.

Yeah, Mondeo is my vote. The 1.8 diesel isn’t the most modern of engines but is still economical and utterly bombproof. A Focus with the 1.6 diesel would be my other choice (more modern engine, very economical, still bombproof).

Engineers don’t run the car companies, accountants do

Yes, but not as much as most people think. The majority of the OEMs I’ve worked with are pretty sensible when it comes to listening to the engineers and speccing the correct components.

I have to admit I’m not really sure about that. Certainly, and obviously, more than a ‘normal’ alternator but I honestly couldn’t say by how much.

Speed, – I’m just looking for the time the vehicle must be stationary to reach the ‘break even’ point where the cost of purchasing and maintaining the stop start system offers a genuine saving.

Sorry, you must have posted that just as I put my reply above in. That post probably provides an answer though in that basically you don’t have to worry about the wear and so it’s mainly just savings on running costs.

And just to add to the very original question – the ISG used in PSA diesels (a Valeo) unit is rated for 600,000 restarts. A quick calculation based on 50 re-starts a day (25 each way on the way to work/back which seems reasonable considering the logic which will sometimes disable the stop start system) gives a life of about 33 years if it was driven that way every single day of every year. Probably an acceptable service life.

Mol – You should listen, just not believe by default.

I find it quite funny that those who chooses to believe and accept that an engineer has done their job properly in speccing and designing components for a car is the one who is ‘in the wrong’ and those believing that any new technology is some conspiracy to get you to buy more parts is in the right?! Most manufacturers are giving out longer and longer warranties – which generally means they wan’t as little to go wrong as possible. OK, there are some quite complex systems on modern cars but they are still remarkably robust (which I can attest to as part of my job is making sure they are robust!). Of course one should do some research into a new technology, but to say that they only sensible view is a cynical one is a little bit short sighted.

Speed – I’m interested how they use the alternator. I take it the alternator has a positive connection witht he crank via chain or cogs as apposed to the ‘traditional’ pulley ?

On those sorts of engines, do they fit a ‘traditional’ starter as well ?

Yeah, it’s called an Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) and is basically an alternator that can also be spun up as well as being spun to generate energy. The connection to the engine is generally still belt drive and is part of the reason they are used as they are much quieter and gentler when re-starting the engine. As mentioned somewhere above, PSA are a big user of them in their stop-start engines (which in turn go in to lots of Ford products [diesels mainly]).

how is it when you are turning (particularly going right across the traffic) and you stop/pause for a few seconds waiting for a gap? does the engine cut out and then need to restart again?

A lot of cars with stop start also look at the steering wheel angle and won’t stop if it is turned over a certain amount – means it doesn’t cut out for doing three point turns etc as well.

Which is why molgrips is foolish to think that every new innovation introduced to modern cars is better/more reliable/more economical, which was my original point.

Well….in general they probably are. Otherwise there wouldn’t be that much point in introducing them. OK, a lot are introduced in order to give lower emissions in the test cycles, but that can still be translated to seeing better economy and emissions on the road. Stop start really does have a negligble effect on the starter – a lot use the alternator to start it, and even if it does use a ‘normal’ solenoid starter then as others have said it is hardly a part you are replacing often, if at all anyway so the extra few starts every day are really not going to influence it at all.

Your comment about DMFs is sort of fair enough in that they are probably one of the components with a higher failure rate, but they were introduced in order to satisfy consumers demand for Diesels with a less clattery feel – the component does it’s job perfectly well, but by its very nature is prone to failure faster than a normal flywheel. You can’t have it both ways unfortunately.

I’d actually say the opposite and say that generally Gore-tex isn’t worth it for Ski-gloves. Snow isn’t actually wet so you don’t really need waterproof gloves, but do need them to be water resistant and breathable so I’d reccomend a soft-shell pair from one of the mountain kit companies (Rab, Mountain Equipment etc). Tough palm is a good shout though and a guantlet style is generally best for ski gloves.

SOmething such as:

http://www.roughgear.co.uk/p-518-rab-back-country-glove.aspx is nigh on perfect IMO. Mega breathable, water resistant enough for snow, removable liner if it does get damp, and the liner is ThermalPro which is incredibly warm. And all under budget. Sorted!

There is a load of logic as to when stop start turns on. Depends on the car – some don’t stop start with A/C on, some do, some need seatbelt on etc.

Most stop start engines have two batteries – the main is used for restarting and the support battery for everything else. They also usually use an Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) which actually uses the alternator to start the engine. These both make auto stop starts smoother, but doing it ‘manually’ shouldn’t put too much more wear on the starter or battery as long as you aren’t doing it every minute or so fr a long time! (I.e. at crossings etc it would be ok, but not if used like a real stop start at every idle!)

Do you want a 50mm or a 50mm? A lens marked as a 50mm used on a 350D will actually give you an effective focal length of 80ish mm. To get an effective focal length of 50mm you’d need a 30ish mm lens. Apologies if you knew that already but thought I’d check!

As for which are good, a 50mm is probably the most common lens design so you can get a good one for pretty cheap from whoever. Having said that, the Canon 50 1.8 is so cheap that you might as well go OEM as it is very good.

Bought some Oakley Crowbar goggles from there last year, no problems at all – all legit from my point of view.